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METM. EDGE, INC. 2008 

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Ill LC 6251 

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''■■'■■■ Copy 1 



A PLAN 



for a 



UNIVERSITY EXTENSION DEPARTMENT 






by 



EDWARD A. FITZPATRICK 

Director, Society for the Promotion of 
Training for Public Service 



to be used 

AS BASIS OF DISCUSSION 

at the 

CONFERENCE ON UNIVERSITY AND 
PUBLIC SERVICE 

Wednesday Afternoon, August 25, 1915 

Price 50 cents 

Society for tke Promotion of Training for Public Service 

Box 380, Madison, Wisconsin 

August. 1915 



D 






A PLAN 



for a 

UNIVERSITY EXTENSION DEPARTMENT 

by 
EDWARD A. FITZPATRICK 

Director, Society for the Promotion of Training for Public Service 

'"ClFTY millions of men God gives us to mould; burning ques- 
■■- tions, keen debate, great interests trying to vindicate their 
right to be, sad wrongs brought to the bar of public judgment,— 
these," says Wendell Phillips, ''are the people's schools." He 
continues, "Trust the people— the wise and the ignorant, the 
good and the bad— with the gravest questions, and in the end 
you educate the race. At the same time you secure, not perfect 
institutions, not necessarily good ones, but the best institutions 
possible while human nature is the basis and the only material to 
build with." 

That is the fundamental faith back of the extension move- 
ment. It is the faith of democracy. It finds expression in the 
potent influence of public opinion among us. It is the advice of 
Washington in his Farewell Address : ' ' Promote, then, as an 
object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffu- 
sion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a govern- 
ment gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public 
opinion should be enlightened." 

Tke Problem of University Cooperation in Helping the State ' 

There is going on everywhere the educational extension move- 
ment. The establishment of evening schools, summer schools, 
continuation schools, chautauquas, reading circles, short courses, 
are only so many evidences of this. The movement has found, 
however, its most significant expression as a state movement in 
connection with a state university. Massachusetts now under- 
takes pioneer work in a new phase of it. Massachusetts has no 

3 



state university. Its university extension department raises 
a somewhat different problem than carrying "the university to 
the people. ' ' It must create its university. 

Merely another college or university in Massachusetts is quite 
unnecessary. There are now twenty-one colleges or universities 
in the state and twelve public normal schools. The problem of 
securing effective cooperation of these institutions in a state 
program of university extension is new. It ought not, however, 
to be difficult. Universities cannot in any case proclaim them- 
selves as private institutions. Their functions and purposes are 
public and that gives color to their whole character. A private 
university is an anomoly. 

A state agency that will facilitate university service to the 
community ought to be welcomed by the existing educational in- 
stitutions of the state. In all probability it will be heartily wel- 
comed. President Mezes, now of the College of the City of New 
York, in his valedictory upon retiring from the presidency of 
the University of Texas defined a university in the modem sense 
in these terms : 

"The first duty of the university is to help its students, in 
and out of residence, and all other citizens who feel its influence, 
to perform the duties of citizenship with greater efficiency, 
broader knowledge, and fuller loyalty. 

"The second duty of the institution is to train leaders and 
skilled workers for every occupation carried on in the state whose 
leaders can be helped by higher education ; making a special 
point of training scientific investigators, teachers for schools and 
colleges, and prospective public servants. 

"Its third main duty is to gather a body of trained investi- 
gators to study the social, governmental, industrial, and physical 
problems of the state ; to give these investngators the best facili- 
ties for carrying on their work ; and to publish their results. 

' ' The fourth duty and opportunity of the university is to carry 
to the people useful knowledge concerning the state and its prob- 
lems in forms usable and easily understood. Knowledge as it 
exists in the minds of scientific workers, valuable as it is, is gen- 
erally too technical for popular consumption and understanding. 
It is necessary to translate this knowledge into the language of 
the people, simplifying it and adapting it to their practical uses, 

4 



in order that they may profit by it; and the university should 
have a body of workers competent to perform this difficult task. ' ' 

Universities have long recognized the last three duties named, 
but unfortunately they have not seen exactly how they might 
perform these duties without being accused of "mixing in 
politics," and doing other unacademic things. Massachusetts 
proposes pioneer work in providing machinery through an ex- 
tension division to facilitate the performance of these vital social 
duties of universities. It is an experiment of very great sig- 
nificance to university education in this country and to our po- 
litical, economic and social life. 

There comes also into the situation a new force of practically 
unlimited influence, the alumni of our universities. At present 
alumni associations are more or less instrumentalities of the uni- 
versity administration to carry out its financial program. They 
ought to be, on the other hand, of tremendous significance in 
bringing to bear fresh lay comment on educational practice and 
policy. The epoch-making— the word is chosen advisedly— activ- 
ity and report of the Alumni Association of the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology on "Organized Cooperation" augurs 
very well for the future. 

Certain Fundamentals 

The fundamental purpose of a state educational extension 
division ought to be clearly defined and may be defined in these 
terms: the purpose of state activity in this field is to stimulate 
and reinforce local and individual initiative, local and individual 
planning, local and individual programs and local and indi- 
vidual activity. Such a view of state activity enables one to 
formulate certain fundamental rules of conduct : 

That it shall correlate present efforts to the same ends; 

That it shall show existing agencies new opportunities for 
service ; 

That it shall not do any work that any other agency is 
equipped to do and is doing with the best social results; 

That it shall help the local community or group to organize 
its own work, particularly its quasi-public work; 

That it shall stimulate permanent community organizations to 
focus consciousness of local problems; 

5 



That, tlirougli cooperative arrangements, it shall work through 
local organizations, particularly local government. 

In its work to meet individual needs the formulation of rules 
of conduct is not necessary. It must aim to satisfy these indi- 
vidual needs but it must be sure in its success to keep Walt 
Whitman's words in mind: "That out of every fruition of 
success, no matter what, shall come forth something that shall 
make a greater struggle necessary." Or Browning's words, 
"A man's reach should exceed his grasp." 

AiVLy Massacliusetts is Used by AV^ay or Illustration 

The legislature of Massachusetts passed a law providing for 
the organization of a university extension department to be 
placed under the State Board of Education. It was Governor 
Walsh's recommendation in his message that it be placed under 
a separate board, but this the legislature refused to do. 

The following plan for a university extension department is 
especially intended for a state without a state university though 
it has suggestions for those where there are state universities. 
Because of the action of the Massachusetts legislature it was 
thought advisable to word the plan somewhat with reference to 
the Massachusetts situation. It is easy for anyone interested, in 
Connecticut, say, or Pennsylvania, to find out the facts or condi- 
tions similar to those quoted for Massachusetts. It is the re- 
ceptive attitude of mind in Massachusetts and the immediately 
pressing nature of the university extension department there 
that decided us in using Massachusetts by way of example. 

P. S. In Massachusetts, agricultural extension is made spe- 
cifically the function of the Massachusetts Agricultural College 
at Amherst. 

A Word or Caution 

What we call university extension has been slowly developed 
through the centuries. The letters of the elder Cicero to Quintus 
Cicero are an excellent illustration of a correspondence course in 
practical administration, just as the Pauline epistles are of a 
correspondence course in practical ethics. The New England 
town meeting and the school district meeting are prototypes for 
the modern social center movement. Socrates is a superb ex- 



ample of the traveling instructor — the peripatetic university. 
And so with other of the activities of university extension. They 
have had a long development through the ages, sometimes dis- 
appearing entirely to be revived later in a considerably changed 
form. 

The contemporary phase of the movement was inaugurated 
about 1890. Considering the present stage of development the 
movement has been proceeding gradually and cautiously. Its 
further development should be guarded by the same care and 
caution. 

The variety of things-to-be-done suggested in this plan is not 
intended for immediate adoption anywhere. The purpose of this 
plan is to state a program a few years ahead, one that should be 
in the minds of the men organizing a department at the very 
beginning of things. The amount of money available will de- 
termine what things can be done at the start. What things 
should be done can be determined only by careful study on the 
spot. And once begun this study of local conditions must be 
continuous during the existence of the department. There is one 
further condition— given the things-that-ought-to-be-done, and 
a sufficient amount of money, there remains the fundamental 
question: "Are the men available who can carry the program 
through ? ' ' 

In most cases at the present time, men for university exten- 
sion work are not available. They must be developed. The 
development of men in a new field of work is a comparatively 
slow process. The work of a university extension department 
nuist await its full scope upon such a development. 

In attacking the problem locally the first impulse is to plunge 
right into the midst of things and get something started and 
something done — to show "results." The wiser proceeding 
would be to step back, take a view of tlie whole situation, de- 
cide your first step, and your next and next, and then go to 
work. Results may be slower at the beginning, but you will be 
building not for the hour or the moment, but for years— and re- 
sults will be durable and real. 



THE PLANNING DIVISION 

Perhaps the greatest need of the university extension move- 
ment is an intimate correlation with community needs and indi- 
vidual needs. Universitj'- extension must differentiate itself from 
the ordinary academic education by its more intimate relation to 
life. University extension must not be simply our academic 
system writ large. It must not deliver university lectures in the 
community centers of the state. It must not be merely an ex- 
tension of the existing system. Its motive must be more prac- 
tical, its subject matter more real, its method more personal, its 
range the whole extent of education, and it must aim at the 
gradual raising of the many ever so slightly, which Jane Addams 
tells us is far preferable to the raising of a few ever so high. 

In the present organization of extension departments there is 
no provision for making the correlation of the extension work 
with community and individual problems systematic and organic 
rather than accidental and haphazard. The imitative character 
of a good deal of the extension work is due to lack of such a 
provision as is implied in the previous sentence. To remedy this 
there ought to be in each extension department a planning di- 
vision providing for the continuous and systematic study of the 
economic, political and social needs of the state upon which an 
extension movement must base its educational program. 

There is another aspect to the problem. After the needs are 
discovered what shall be done? The university extension move- 
ment might attempt to satisfy the needs by independent effort, 
but this would be socially wasteful. There are abundant agencies 
now in existence that could help solve these problems. Because 
of this lack of knowledge of state and local needs the problems 
and the means of solution are never brought together. It is the 
function of a university extension department after revealing 
the community problems to focus on their solution the agencies 
that are organized to solve or help solve them. To this end a 
study of the agencies of the national and state government and 
of the many quasi-public agencies in state and nation must be 
made with reference to their possibility of assistance. 

8 



The planning division would therefore take the form outlined 
below : 

I. The planning division provides for systematic continuous 
study of the economic, social and political needs of the 
state. 

A, In the university extension department : 

1. By the department staff, both office and field un- 

der the direction of the director of the univer- 
sity extension department. 

2. Through the advisory councils provided by the 

law. 

B. Through cooperative arrangements with the educa- 

tional institutions of the state, particularly the uni- 
versities. 

1. By devoting seminars in the universities to a 
study of state and municipal community needs. 

(a) Courses are now given in universities in 

"special study of administration of Cali- 
fornia," Iowa problems, Nebraska prob- 
lems, etc. 

(b) In the University of jMinnesota a seminar 

in Labor Problems is described as fol- 
lows: "Original investigation and re- 
search, conducted in cooperation with the 
various agencies interested in promoting 
investigation of labor problems, afford 
training for practical work in the field 
of the labor problem." 

(c) An excellent illustration of such courses 

is given in Nebraska, to wdt: "Practical 
Legislation: Nebraska Problems— Intro- 
ductory study of Nebraska's historical 
development, social, political, constitu- 
tional. Present problems in Nebraska 
law-making and administration. Sub- 
ject-matter and methods of legislation. 
Drafting and criticism of legislative bills 
and information briefs in cooperation 

9 



with Nebraska Legislative Reference De- 
partment. Practice work at state house 
during legislative session, January to 
April of odd numbered years, 2 hrs. at- 
tendance, 2 hrs, credit. First semester. 
Given in 1914-15. Credited in the Col- 
lege of Law." 
2. By designating existing or creating new fellow- 
ships in universities, particularly traveling fel- 
lowships, to study state problems, e. g., 

(a) The best opportunity now existing not 

only in Massachusetts but in the country 
for such study is the ' ' Frederick Sheldon 
Fund for Traveling Fellowships" at 
Harvard University. This is a tj^e of 
gift to universities that ought to be imi- 
tated. 

(b) Fellowships and scholarships for special 

purposes, for example: 

(1) The holders of the Gilder Fellow- 

ships at Columbia University shall 
devote themseves to "the investiga- 
tion of the political and social con- 
ditions in this country or abroad; 
to the examination and analysis of 
the practical working of legislation 
enacted for the purpose of improv- 
ing civic conditions or to practical 
civic work, in accordance with 
plans approved by the Professor of 
Politics and the ProfessoT of Soci- 
ology." 

(2) The George William Curtis Fellow- 

ship at Columbia University shall 
be devoted to the study of the sci- 
ence of government with a special 
view to its application to the then 
existing condition of the United 
States or to the state or city of New 
York. 
10 



(3) Research Fellowship for study of 
Problems of Urban Growth. Mr, 
F. M. Smith of Oakland, Cal., has 
- ■ established a research fellowship 

for investigation of certain prob- 
lems incident to the growth of cities 
in the San Francisco Bay region. 
Attention is directed especially to 
questions relating to the develop- 
ment of paries, playgrounds, and 
other community interests demand- 
ing particular consideration of 
space available for growi:h. 
II. The planning division will develop such constructive plans 
as will in its judgment meet the needs of the state as de- 
veloped by its research work. 

A. Through the aid of its advisory councils. 

B. Through the cooperation of the experts in the various 

educational institutions of the state. 

C. Through the cooperation of the various civic organi- 

zations of the state. 

D. Through the cooperation of the various official agen- 

cies of all the governmental units, including city, 
state and nation. 

E. Through the cooperation of the various national or- 

ganizations such as the National Playground Asso- 
ciation, The Russell Sage Foundation, etc. 



11 



DIVISION OF COMMUNITY EDUCATION 



Education of Communities and Individuals 

Where there is educational need there is opportunity for uni- 
versity extension, or more properly, extension work. This need 
may be felt by communities as well as by individuals, and this 
forms a convenient basis of division of extension work. The 
work may be directed toward communities or community organi- 
zation, or it may be directed toward individuals. This estab- 
lishes the two main divisions of our university extension de- 
partment : 

I. The Division of Community Education, 
II. The Division of Supplementary Education. 

A word may be needed regarding the second title. The direct 
and formal education of the individual is the function of the local 
community as an agency of the state in the conventional educa- 
tional system. The supplementing of this education is necessary, 
and the most effective organization of it at the present time is 
through a direct state agency. 

Public Inrormation Service 

Everywhere and in many ways propagandists of all sorts are 
spreading information emphasizing their theses, their points of 
view or their programs. It is a good thing that such activity 
is being carried on so energetically. But unfortunately in the 
work of the propagandist there comes over-emphasis and a 
tendency to see things out of their relations. Moreover into the 
''pot pourri" of public information all kinds of half-truths, 
special pleading and misinformation are thrown. Moreover the 
public is passive and usually accepts information without sift- 
ing. It does not ask for additional facts or relations, and if it 
wanted them to whom should the inquiry be addressed? There 
ought to be an educational agency whose function would be the 
diffusion of accurate information on all manner of social ques- 
tions. A department of educational extension is the logical 

agency for this. 

12 



Tliere ought to be provided in an extension department as its 
primary basis a public information service where citizen or citi- 
zen agency could secure information on all sides of public ques- 
tions. Here no special interest would be served and no personal 
predilection would enter. The department would be an imper- 
sonal, unbiased source of information with no object but truth. 

Information would be collected on all social subjects of current 
imterest, available upon a short notice to anyone in the state. 
Sometimes the material might be sent, sometimes a digest of it 
with proper citation, or if inquiries were frequent enough, a 
pamphlet would be prepared outlining the whole subject. 

xTclping Government Help Itself 

Modern government is inextricably bound up in modern life. 
It touches our daily activity in a thousand different ways. Upon 
its efficiency depends to a considerable degree the public welfare. 
Municipal policies and municipal administration are at times, at 
least, not the result of careful study and the best information. 
However, communities are beginning to realize the necessity 
for this; they are beginning in fact to demand informed and 
trained city officials. As a first step they are establishing muni- 
cipal reference libraries to provide current information for 
officials. They are having the administrative side of their gov- 
ernment "surveyed" by experts. They have realized the need 
for both accurate information and expert service. 

In any state few cities are large enough to establish municipal 
reference libraries of their own or to call in high priced experts. 
The establishment of these services in some form or other is 
a legitimate and a highly desirable function of the state. Ex- 
tension departments of state universities, municipal reference 
bureaus are prominent factors. To its purely information func- 
tion there is gradually being added an engineering advisory 
service. This service may be either in the nature of a consulta- 
tion with reference to prospective plans or of a criticism of exist- 
ing organization or equipment. The landscape gardening fea- 
ture is being added, too, in cooperation with colleges of agri- 
culture. 

A still further phase of this work has been developed best 
at the University of Cincinnati. It is the utilization of univer- 

13 



sity laboratories to test the materials purchased by the, public 
agencies. The organization is called the Bureau of City Tests 
and is part of the work of the Department of Chemistry of the 
College of Engineering of the University. "It analyzes, ex- 
amines and estimates the value of all materials submitted by 
the city engineer or the purchasing agent of the city. Samples 
obtained by the representatives of these departments in the 
course of regular business are sent with numbers to the bureau 
which tests them independently without knowing from whom 
they come or what their money values are." A laboratory ser- 
vice doing this service for the cities of the state or state depart- 
ments is an excellent opportunity for service for a university 
extension department. High schools in some of the cities of the 
country have done in the school laboratories some testing of the 
kind proposed. This use of high school laboratories ought to be 
encouraged and extended. 

Perhaps along with this should goi a permanent municipal ex- 
hibit. "Whether this should be undertaken is primarily a ques- 
tion of appropriation. Two other alternatives are possible. It 
might be financed or managed by a citizens' organization, or it 
might be made self-supporting in part at least. 

The permanent municipal exhibit would aim to show "how 
other cities are doing it." The merely ornamental and pictur- 
esque would be taboo. It would show actual city plans before 
and after, it would exhibit lamp posts, pavements, etc., it would 
show accounting forms, — everything that the modern cities need 
for their major functions would be shown as far as space per- 
mitted. 

The story of what the community wants to know may at times 
best be told by means of exhibits, by charts, diagrams, pictures, 
and plans. A live extension department should not forego this 
opportunity to serve. It may be necessary to provide for the 
sending of exhibits only in connection with a similar exhibit of 
local conditions made by local people. Or perhaps the story can 
be told in moving pictures, or by stereoptican slides. A live 
extension department will not forego that opportunity. 

The suggestions of the Massachusetts State Board of Educa- 
tion are pertinent. One of their alternative plans for a substi- 
tute for a state university is an "agency to secure cooperation 
between the higher institutions of learning in Massachusetts and 

14 



state and municipal departments." The functions of this or- 
ganization are threefold: 

"(1) To accumulate information bearing upon various ques- 
tions connected with the public administration * * *. 

" (2) To keep on file a list of experts in various fields of study 
competent to aid, by advice or assistance, commissions charged 
with different departments of the work of the state. Such a 
list would include the names of experts in sanitary engineering, 
mechanical engineering, public health, prison administration, 
taxation and many other fields. In the event of state or local 
board or commission desiring the services of an expert, the or- 
ganization would conduct negotiations with the higher institu- 
tions in whose employ the expert would be, and make arrange- 
ments for securing the needed service for the state or muni- 
cipality. 

" (3) To arrange that specialists in higher institutions should 
conduct research work on problems growing out of the work of 
departments and commissions. Problems are constantly arising 
relating to the uses of materials and to matters of construction 
in- the technical field, and also in the field of economics and so- 
ciology which require special experimentation and investigation 
before the policy of the state in administration or legislation can 
be intelligently defined. It could arrange for such research work 
and, after conference with the higher institutions, select the per- 
sons most competent to carry on needed studies. 

"In addition, the organization might arrange with properly 
equipped higher institutions for the training of students to 
enter fields of public service. Beginnings have already been 
made in this field in training the health officers, under the joint 
auspices of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Har- 
vard University." 

lielping Clubs and Other Organizations Help tne Community 

The number of community organizations are legion : chambers 
of commerce, boards of trade, women's clubs, municipal leagues, 
city clubs, civil service reform associations, parent's clubs, school 
alumni associations, labor unions, etc. All are potential factors 
for the betterment of the community. An extension department 
ought to have their cooperation and has but to make the sug- 
gestions to secure it. 

15 



The people have to have an institutional expression of their 
community life. In our com m unities there are two possible in- 
stitutions that might serve— the school and the library. Because 
of the existence of schools everywhere the movement for a com- 
munity center has fixed upon it. It would be helpful to have 
definite community organizations with the schoolhouse as the 
meeting place. New England's leadership in this field is well 
known. But as communities increase, and particularly in our 
large cities, the community is a heterogeneous grouping of 
smaller units. It is upon these smaller units that a new ex- 
tension department at least must work holding always in mind 
perhaps the other as an ideal. Perhaps the first step in this 
direction is a union of interests on some community problem, 
but this is always a matter of local initiative. The extension de- 
partment would welcome the opportunity to render to the ut- 
most of its power whatever technical assistance it can. 

What may an extension department do for these clubs'? The 
public information service outlined above is equally at its service 
as it is for individuals. It can inform local organizations what 
similar organizations are doing in other parts of the country. 
After an organization or a group of organizations have decided 
to undertake a study of the community it can lend it advisors 
and directors who will be glad to "stay on the job" to help local 
people study themselves, and then hold the mirror up to nature. 
It will help, too, in short in the organization of the exhibit to 
show the findings concretely. 

The extension department would not make surveys of com- 
munities. In accordance with the philosophy of the extension 
movement it would help the community study itself. Whatever 
may be accomplished directly in better community conditions as 
a result of such a study, the indirect educational effects on all 
the individuals who take part would be immeasurably more val- 
uable and produce even greater community improvements. 

After a month's or several months' study and in connection 
with the exhibit there might be conducted what is variously 
called a community institute, or a social welfare institute, or 
it might be a public health exhibit, or a public school week or a 
budget exhibit. This would be a program of speakers, the 
local officials, perhaps state officers and some outsiders to dis- 
cuss the problems raised by the exhibit. 

16 



Following either the local survey by local people and the com- 
munity week, or without either, communities have organized 
clean up week, movements for better babies, a safe Fourth, fire 
prevention. In this work, too, the principle of helping the com- 
munity to help itself will be followed. Expert assistance will be 
rendered to help the community outline its plan of organization. 
Advice as to what should be done, assistance in working out its 
program, and help in the publicity campaign will be given. 

A further step is necessary. Many of these civic organiza- 
tions have paid secretaries. That many of these men were not 
specially trained for their positions and particularly on its com- 
munity side is no reflection on the ability of these men. Such 
training involving both its theoretical and its practical aspects is 
nowhere provided for in this country. These men have in many 
places developed a remarkable aptness for their jobs. And from 
the viewpoint of the extension department they are in a strategic 
social position. Short courses once or twice a year emphasizing 
new developments in their field and giving foundation work 
in municipal and state government, in statistics, in the social 
sciences, etc., should be given. This work, however, should be 
organized under the division of supplementary education. 

Helping tLe Community Organize Itselr 

The social center movement has done a distinct service in its 
Avork of educational propaganda. The movement has been more 
or less of a definite propaganda to secure for the modern, dense, 
heterogeneous community the advantages of the gathering in the 
old red schoolhouse. "The old double seats weren't comfort- 
able," we are told. "The light from the kerosene lamps, with 
their tin reflectors, wasn 't any too good ; but there was a human 
spirit in those gatherings, a man-to-man frankness and democ- 
racy that made America mean something to us young fellows. 
And there was a spirit of neighborhood there— not only in the 
sociables, the spell-downs, and singing schools, but in the meet- 
ings where folks just listened to speakers, and talked. Getting 
together about things we had in common— whether it was what 
kind of a bridge we should have across the creek, or the tariff— 
we felt a first-hand responsibility for being citizens. ' ' 

"The schoolhouse in the simple primitive community," the 
leader of the movement continues, "began to be the focal center 

17 



of the common life. But as the community grew older, and es- 
pecially as it grew more populous, there came in the wedge of 
division, of separation, of specialization." The movement, how- 
ever, as a practical affair seems to have neglected this funda- 
mental change. As it is part of the movement for the wider use 
of the school plant for social purposes its achievement is even at 
this time significant. As an organ for the promotion of a civic 
and social comraderie it is a welcome addition to many other 
factors. 

For a university extension department the mder use of the 
school plant for social purposes is a movement to which it should 
lend its active assistance. It is part of its own philosophy of 
education and society. To the acceptance and development of 
this movement a university extension department ought to de- 
vote some of its energy. 

For the other side of the movement, as an all-inclusive organi- 
zation of citizens to discuss the common problems of citizenship, 
a little different emphasis on the community center idea is 
needed for a university extension department to take advantage 
of its opportunity. The modem conmiunity is not so much a 
coimmunity as it is a group of communities. It is stratified both 
vertically and horizontally. The coalescing element is not an 
organization, but issues. A conununity has not one common 
meeting ground; it has many, — chambers of commerce, women's 
clubs, civic centers, labor unions are only so many community 
centers. They are what Professor Ross would call so many 
"radiant points of social control." All of these are agencies 
through which a university extension department must work. 

A wider opportunity presents itself. It must help a commun- 
ity or a group of a community organize. It will help communi- 
ties or public departments organize agencies of information such 
as municipal reference or other special libraries. It will help 
communities or groups in the communities organize community 
or group clubs. It will help communities organize campaigns for 
the improvement of local conditions. It will promote state-wide 
contests of communities in matters of public welfare, creating a 
friendly emulation in the interest of the common good. It will 
stimulate public discussion through the organization of local or 
state-wide conferences. 

18 



DIVISION OF COMMUNITY EDUCATION 

The services of a division of community education may be out- 
lined as follows: 

Public Information Service 
I. To Whom: 

A. To the public official who desires to know what other 

communities in the state or out are doing to solve 
problems similar to his. 

B. To the alderman who wants information on matters 

pending before the city council. 

C. To candidates for office who are anxious to acquaint 

themselves on all sides of public questions, 

D. To the community required to vote on a referendum 

on a municipal or state issue. 

E. To the club or other organization desiring to stir or 

create public opinion on a matter of public health 
or sanitation or other community problems. 

F. To the citizen who wants to know about government 

or political issues. 

G. To the high school debating class or league who de- 

sires information on subjects of debate. 

II. Types of Service: 

A. Reference library service : 

1. Without duplicating existing facilities, current 

information on all social topics would be col- 
lected. 

2. The information would be through its classifica- 

tion available on call. 

3. Lists of experts as recommended by the State 

Board of Education would be available. 

B. Research service : 

1. Preparation of Inbliographies on social subjects. 

19 



2. Preparation of digests on community problems. 

3. Special investigations of pressing local problems. 

This particular service may have to be limited 
to public officials or governmental departments 
or bureaus. 

C. Laboratory service : 

1. This will have to be developed in connection 

with existing laboratory facilities in the uni- 
versities of the state. 

2. Preparation of specifications for supplies for 

governmental use in cooperation with govern- 
ment officials. 

3. Testing material purchased by government to 

determine standards. 

4. Working out standards for government officers. 

D. Technical service of experts : 

1. In an advisory capacity on practically all ques- 

tions of public administration. 

2. In a cooperating capacity on the ground work- 

ing through and in connection with local offi- 
cials or local organizations. 

3. The experts of the university extension depart- 

ment or the cooperating experts' services are 
available only in an advisory or cooperating 
capacity. 

4. List of experts to take charge of work will be 

kept on file as recommended by the State Board 
of Education. 

E. Legislative drafting service : 

1. Municipal ordinances will be drafted in accord- 

ance with specific instructions from city offi- 
cials or organizations. 

2. Technical assistance will be given to organiza- 

tions in connection with the drafting of legis- 
tion. The field to be covered by the university 
extension department will not duplicate any 
existing facilities for either legislators or citi- 
zens. 

20 



General Information Service 

Note— This service is more properly the func- 
tion of a state library commission and it is 
outlined here for states that do not have such 
a commission. 
I. To Whom: 

A. To the community which has no public library facil- 

ities. 

B. To the community whose library does not meet the 

special needs of an organization or an individual. 

II. Types of service: 

A. Traveling library service: 

This is intended for responsible public or citizen 
organizations like a board of education or a woman's 
club. A committee of five citizens may also secure a 
traveling library. A traveling library is a collection 
of books, usually twenty or more, on a general sub- 
ject or it may be miscellaneous. These books are 
loaned to a community or an organization and are 
loaned without cost to any resident. 

B. Books by parcels post: 

If the traveling library or other library does not 
satisfy an individual's need, he may receive directly 
from the university extension department the par- 
ticular book he wants upon endorsement of his ap- 
plication by some responisble citizen. 

Organization Service 

I. Local municipal reference libraries. For the communtiy 
that desires a municipal reference library of its own the 
university extension department will send a representa- 
tive on the ground : 

A. To help in its arrangement of space. 

B. To have the new organization placed on the mailing 

lists of governmental agencies and private organi- 
zations supplying currently valuable material. 
21 



C. To work out a library classification to suit the needs 

of the particular community. 

D. To stay on the job during the first week or first 

month to get the machinery working in good order, 

II. Special libraries for state departments. For the state de- 
partment desiring to establish a special library in its own 
field a service similar to that outlined for communities 
desiring a municipal reference library wall be performed. 

III. Community clubs. For groups of men or women desiring 

clubs for community purposes the assistance of the uni- 
versity extension department may be secured : 

A. In outlining the purposes of such an organization. 

B. In placing at the disposal of such an organization 

the experience of similar organizations elsewhere. 

C. In preparing tentative drafts of constitutions. 

D. In suggesting, if requested, names of efficient secre- 

taries, if these are available. This service could 
not be done very well during the first year. 

E. In suggesting programs for meetings, speakers, or 

things to be done. 

IV. Public school debating leagues. These will be organized 

through or by the city superintendents of schools and the 
high school principals. 

V. Organization of a community campaign. Know-your-eity 
weeks, clean-up weeks, fire-prevention weeks have be- 
come a part of many a community's desire to better it- 
self. More cities would do it if expert assistance were 
available to help organize. The university extension de- 
partment would render such assistance. 

VI. State wide contests. The "clean town" contest that is be- 

ing conducted under the Utah State Board of Health is a 
type of work that a university extension department may 
well do in connection with state departments. 

VII. Organization of state wide or local conferences: 

A. The organization of state wide conferences is now 
an important phase of work of university exten- 
sion departments. Perhaps the most significant 
22 



of these have been organized in the state of Ore- 
gon in connection with a proposed constitutional 
convention. 
B. After an educational campaign as suggested in " V. " 
above the community may desire a group of ex- 
perts on its special problems to come in and lec- 
ture to it, and answer questions in a community 
institute. This is practically a conference with 
various recreational features to relieve the awful 
seriousness of it all. 

VIII. Chautauqua service: 

A. Three or five or six day sessions, which will provide 
in varying degrees instruction, entertainment, 
music and recreation, will be organized for com- 
munities. 



23 



DIVISION OF SUPPLEMENTARY EDUCATION 

A university extension department is an expression of the ef- 
forts to make more democratic our educational system. It is 
not an effort to give everybody a college education or any kind 
of a uniform education. It aims to give each person that knowl- 
edge, or skill, or appreciation which will enable him best to 
realize his social possibilities, or in other words, to enable each 
person toi make the greatest contribution to the common good. 
A university extension department will go wherever there is 
educational need. To the vast number of children who leave 
school on their fourteenth birthday, to men and women in com- 
munities without adequate day high schools or other higher in- 
stitutions of learning, or evening schools, or special schools, to 
working men and women who have not the time or the leisure, 
or for any reason do not attend local evening schools, to those 
who are inadequately served or who are skeptical about the pri- 
vate correspondence schools or other private educational agen- 
cies—to all these the university extension department must carry 
its message. 

To what extent any particular university extension depart- 
ment will undertake to satisfy the unmet educational needs of a 
state is a local problem to be determined by local conditions, ap- 
propriations and the priority of the specific needs. As else- 
where in this plan the Massachusetts situation is kept in mind, 
but the wording of the proposals is intended for a wider use. 

There are four obvious methods of meeting these needs avail- 
able to a university extension department. They are (1) by 
lectures, (2) by correspondence, (3) by direct instruction, and 
(4) by conference. 

Lecture Service 

The lecture has been the most widely used means of university 
extension but nevertheless as a method of instruction it is grow- 
ing in disrepute. In elementary education it has never secured 
any great foothold. One of the criticisms of a teacher that is 
most keenly appreciated is that she talks (lectures) too much. 

24 



But for some time past quite pertinent and effective criticism 
has been directed against college and university lecturing as a 
method of instruction. Professors talk on and get so absorbed 
in their subject that they forget their student audiences — some- 
times the same old lecture notes are used for years and are read 
in the same old monotonous way. 

Public addresses have also tended to be of this pancake va- 
riety to be served anywhere at anytime to any audience irrespec- 
tive of needs. A rather striking illustration came within the 
experience of the writer about a year ago. A city of 
about nine thousand was having a community week. The 
community was genuinely interested in public recreation. 
A person from a near by state, prominently identified with 
the recreation movement, was asked to speak out of the 
abundance of his experience on "Practical Suggestions on 
Playgrounds for a Small City." He made a speech abounding 
in general suggestions, applicable everywhere. It was a ready- 
made program. After the lecture we rode around town and 
passed through one of the most beautiful natural parks in the 
country with an abortive recreation development. The writer 
asked the speaker if he would have delivered the address he did 
if he had had this ride before the lecture instead of after. He 
quite frankly confessed that he would not. How many predi- 
gested lectures now being delivered everywhere in the United 
States would be shown to be useless if local conditions could be 
flashed upon the speaker ts they were in this ride ! 

But one needs merely to recall to mind Emei*son's work on 
the lyceum platform and more particularly Wendell Phillips to 
know beyond a doubt that there is a place and a function for the 
lecture in any public educational program. As an inspirational 
force and as an agitational force its influence is very greatly 
needed. There may be a function for the lecture as pure en- 
tertainment, but for a university extension department this func- 
tion must be made to serve its educational purpose. 

In the large number of organizations established for all man- 
ner of public purpose the lecture as a method of public educa- 
tion is less open to objection than the general lectures for the 
general public. Where, as in these clubs, specific problems are 
under discussion and the audience is made up of persons inter- 

25 



ested in these problems, the lecture is a very useful agency, 
particularly if it is followed by discussion. 

The lecture has, too, a value in giving a general survey or a 
rapid sweep of a broad range of knowledge, activity or personal 
experience. A striking illustration of combining the inspira- 
tional and the informative values of lecture with its cultivation 
of appreciation were the lectures given by Dr. Frederick H. 
Sykes on Shakespeare and Nineteenth Century Literature under 
the auspices first of the extension division of Columbia Univer- 
sity and to general audiences under the auspices of the depart- 
ment of lectures of the New York City department of education. 

A warning may be given against the abuse of the lecture. 
It is directed particularly against the hack-lecturer who is every- 
where in the land. One of the most familiar type travels from 
state teachers' association to state teachers' association repeat- 
ing verbatim the same memorized stuff to be greeted by teachers 
with applause and "how interesting," and never being recalled 
thereafter. 

Lectures could frequently be cut in half with profit, particu- 
larly if the time saved would be given over to a genuine discus- 
sion where the experience, the problems, the thoughts— yes, and 
even the prejudices of the audience would find expression — and 
we hope direction. The finest illustration of this I know of was 
in the People's Institute lectures at Cooper Union, New York, 
when Charles Sprague Smith directed them. Many of the 
speakers were amazed at the range of information and depth of 
thought revealed in the discussion. I recall when S. Parkes 
Cadman came one Sunday to talk on the Puritans, that before 
the discussion had gone very far he was so taken by genuine 
surprise that he said he ought to have been in the audience and 
a representative of the audience on the platform. This was no 
mere oratorical trick but a sincere confession. 

Where lectures are given in series there should run along with 
them a fairly definite outline of the material, together with 
questions and suggested readings. The syllabi furnished by Dr. 
Sykes in his lectures noted above were excellent illustrations of 
the use of the syllabi. But most syllabi furnished with lectures 
are useless. 

When the lecture is supplemented by some means to bring the 
lecturer and the audience together it serves its best purpose; 

26 



namely, it opens up discussion and stimulates thinking. A re- 
vival in some form of the Greek symposium is a consummation 
devoutly to be wished for in American life. We must cultivate 
the hahit of public discussion — not public listening. By this test 
the lecture as a form of public education must be judged. 

Correspondence Instruction Service 

Our academic friends continue toi express their sneers when 
correspondence instruction is mentioned. "He's only a corres- 
pondence school lawyer" and the expression that accompanies 
the remark tells the story. Even when correspondence school 
instruction is carried on by reputable universities like the Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin, the academic protest is heard both from 
within and -svithout the university. There is an alleged cheapen- 
ing, or the word more frequently used, a vulgarizing of knowl- 
edge. The proposition to give college credit toward the ordinary 
academic degrees for correspondence work is still a preposterous 
idea to^ many. As a rule the universities and colleges have looked 
askance at the correspondence method of instruction and left it 
to be developed under commercial auspices. And despite the 
low educational standard of some of the correspondence schools 
and their obvious commercial method, the correspondence method 
is becoming rather rapidly acknowledged as legitimate and a 
very desirable and efficient method of instruction. 

The final answer to the sneers of the academic person and 
the doubts of others is the thousand upon thousands of students 
that are registered in the private correspondence schools of the 
country. One of these schools alone has students numbering in 
the hundred thousands. In the state of Wisconsin alone, mtli 
all the activities of the extension department of the University 
of Wisconsin there are upwards of forty thousand students, and 
in the city of Madison in the shadow of the university itself 
there are twelve hundred students. 

Perhaps the greatest problem of correspondence instruction 
is its high mortality of students. A former president of a great 
railroad who investigated the subject says that this is the prob- 
lem of correspondence instruction. The one way that seems open 
to work out this problem is through the traveling instructor. 
By periodic visits stimulating interest, explaining difficulties, 

27 



showing relations, tying the instruction up with the daily work 
or the prospects of the student, the traveling instructor may suc- 
ceed in carrying the student over the "plateaus" of discourage- 
ment, or laziness or indifference. Whether the traveling in- 
structor is too great a cost is a matter for practical determina- 
tion. When he is tied up to a district organization the cost can 
be greatly reduced. 

The flexibility and the adaptability of the correspondence 
method to individual needs makes it peculiarly fitted to the sup- 
plementary education side of university extension. At present 
this method is in a rudimentary state and needs conscious ex- 
perimentation to determine how it may reach its very great pos- 
sibilities. 

Class Instruction Service 

The organization of classes for groups of persons interested 
in the same subject is an obvious service that a university exten- 
sion department may render. It needs no discussion at this 
time. Conducting this work for professional or trade organiza- 
tions as the University of Wisconsin does for an association of 
stationary engineers is a form of this service that is capable of 
further development. 

Conference Service 

Conferences where special problems confront particular groups 
of individuals or general problems interest all citizens will be 
organized by the university extension department as the need 
becomes evident. But unfortunately the one thing people do 
not do at conferences is to confer. Conferences are usually used 
as "get-acquainted" parties and a time to deliver set speeches. 
Both of these uses serve helpful purposes, but there ought to 
be added to them the practice of genuine conference. For this 
purpose it is proposed that papers should be supplied in advance 
and made the basis of careful study so that the meeting will be 
devoted to serious and thoughtful discussions of the problems. 
This, too, is a familiar form of service and needs no further 
elaboration now. 

Snort Course Service 

The time is not long past since it was thought by college au- 
thorities that students must enter at the end of September and 

28 



study through to June to get educational benefit from study or 
at least college credit. The annual idol was broken when 
semester courses were recognized and students were admitted at 
mid-year. The colleges of agriculture in particular have come 
to question any exclusive rights of either the year or semester 
as a unit of study. They have been giving, for example, a four- 
teen weeks' winter dairying course, and a single week's farmer's 
course and a parallel course in homemaking for the farmer's 
wdfe. 

Instead of the education of the individual fitting into a particu- 
lar time mould, the time element must be flexible enough to 
meet the individual needs. Courses of one week or five weeks 
or a year ought to be given as the educational needs of indi- 
viduals or groups indicate. The part-time student ought to be 
given as much consideration as the whole-time student. 

The conference service outlined elsewhere provides for giving 
to secretaries of various clubs a week's course through discus- 
sion and an exchange of experience. If more direct discussion 
is desired that, too, could be provided for in these short courses. 

A study would be made of the various "closed seasons" or 
"dull seasons" of various classes of individuals whom the uni- 
versity extension department is planning to meet. A part but 
not all of vacation periods might be used for the same purpose. 

The short course is a valuable means for supplementing cor- 
respondence instruction. If plans could be worked out, that is, 
if there are a sufficient number of correspondence students, short 
courses of even a few days at the beginning and end of corres- 
pondence work would add greatly to the efficiency of such work 
and help solve its great problem. 



29 



Tke Plan 

The services to be rendered by a division of supplementary 
education may be outlined as follows: 

SUPPLEMENTARY EDUCATION DIVISION 

I. To wJiom: 

A. To minors (14-17) who are working. 

Note : " It is estimated that only 40,000 of these 
are at work ; 34,700, then, are neither at work nor 
in school."* 

B. To minors (14-17) who are neither at school nor at 

work. 

Note : Both of these classes should be handled in 
public continuation schools: the first spending a 
certain number of hours a week out of the em- 
ployers ' time ; the second spending a whole day 
in the school unless some other provision is made 
for education that meets the approval of the state. 
If there is no provision for both these groups in 
continuation schools the university extension 
division ought to interest itself in them at once. 

C. To minors (17-21) as soon as the continuation school 

system drops them. 

D. To persons desiring a change of vocation. 

E. To persons desiring to be foremen, superintendents, 

executives or administrators. 

Note: "Long hours of monotonous employment, 
and the fact that under present conditions work- 
ers are being restricted to the operation of one or 
a few machines, with little opportunity to gain a 
general knowledge of the trade or business, make 
it imperative that part-time schools be established 

* "The Needs and Possibilities of Part-Time Education": a special report sub- 
mitted to the Massachusetts Legislature, 1913. 

30 



to give to young workers a broader knowledge of the 
industry than they are now able to secure. Under 
the present industrial system there is a dearth of 
capable foremen and superintendents, due to the 
lack of opportunity to obtain a general knowl- 
edge of the industiy, a situation which should be 
met by part-time schools."* 

F. To secretaries of chambers oi commerce, women's 

clubs, city clubs, voters' leagues, etc. 

G. To persons desiring to enter the civil service or 

secure promotion in the civil service. 

H. To public officials desiring special supplementary 
knowledge as governmental accounting, report- 
writing, etc. 

I. To recent college graduates who desire supplement- 
ary theoretical and practical training for voca- 
tional pui*poses, particularly for the government 
service. 

J. To men trained in the professions who desire a more 
intimate knowledge of the social sciences, and es- 
pecially of government structure and function 
than the ordinary professional schools give. 

Note : ' ' Colleges of mines, agricultural colleges, and 
schools of technology form a group under which the 
courses offered must be scientific and practical. 
These schools are primarily designed to prepare 
for one of the professions or vocations and there 
seems to be neither time nor occasion to give at- 
tention to such an impractical matter as govern- 
ment. If one may judge from the utter neglect of 
the study of political affairs in many such schools 
it seems that there is at present no recognition of 
the fact that the incipient miner, farmer or engi- 
neer may some day be called upon to take an in- 
terest in the aff'airs of his country. Nor does there 
seem to be any thought that it might be worth 
while, for but a small portion of time, to learn of 

* "The Needs and Possibilities of Part-Time Education": a special report sub- 
mitted to the Massachusetts Legislature, 1913. 

31 



the responsibilities and duties of social beings as 
well as of ways and means to earn a livelibood. 
That the miner, the farmer and the engineer 
should receive training along the line of their 
duties and responsibilities as social beings and 
citizens seems scarcely less imperative than that 
they should be trained as efficient producers. 
There is ample evidence that the efficient producer 
without a social conscience has worked much 
havoc and injury. If society is to be protected 
and its best interests conserved, the scientific, in- 
dustrial and so-called practical schools must find 
both time and opportunity to give instruction in 
economics, sociology and political science. Both 
economics and sociology have slowly made their 
way into many of the technical and vocational 
schools. A few technical schools and agricultural 
colleges have introduced the important elementary 
courses in government, and there is no indication 
that the standard of work in technology has suf- 
fered particularly because the curriculum has been 
enriched by courses in political and social affairs. 
It remains to be seen whether society as organized 
in its legislatures, courts and administrative agen- 
cies will become a matter of sufficient significance 
to be given some consideration in all of the tech- 
nical schools and may be deemed worthy of more 
attention by that group of institutions which de- 
pend almost entirely upon the state for exist- 
ence. ' '* 

K. To corporations, labor unions or other organizations : 

1. Who desire to give apprentices or other em- 

ployees or members a knowledge of govern- 
ment, of safety devices, of markets, etc. 

2. ^ho desire to conduct classes for their members 

or employees to give them a wider vision of 
themselves and their job. 

* "Report on Instruction in Political Science in Colleges and Universities," 
p. 253, 1913-1914. 

32 



3. Who desire to undertake educational work of 
any kind. 
L. To individuals of whatever vocation or status who 
want further guidance in their studies. 

M. To immigrants who desire a knowledge of the lan- 
guage or of our institutions to prepare for 
naturalization and citizenship. 

II. Types of service: 

A. Lecture service : 

1. Single lectures, to be followed by discussion, on 

social subjects anywhere in the state. 

2. Courses of lectures of three or more for com- 

munities or organizations. A syllabus of lec- 
tures will be provided in advance as far as 
feasible. 
Note : This work is closely related to the direct class 
instruction. 

B. Correspondence instruction service: 

1. Instruction by mail wherever there is genuine 

demand for it. 

2. Courses by mail followed up by individual con- 

ference with traveling instructors. 

3. Courses to be of various lengths— 10, 20, 30 and 

40 assignments— with emphasis on the shorter 
assignments. 

4. Courses to be more in the nature of a series of 

problems rather than as a series of instruc- 
tions. 

5. Courses of study organized with reference to 

specific vocational needs, leading to certificates 
or diplomas. 

6. College courses to be credited in partial fulfill- 

ment of the requirements for a degree will be 
offered if arrangements can be made with the 
colleges and universities. 
Note: A year's residence at the college will be al- 
ways required, of course, for the degree. 
33 



7. In the beginning courses of existing corres- 
pondence schools might be adopted, by ar- 
rangement, if adaptable to the needs of Massa- 
chusetts. 

C. Class instruction service: 

1. Class instruction will be provided for groups of 

twelve or more as needs arise. 

2. Class instruction will be organized in connection 

and for any organization desiring to conduct 
such classes as part of its educational work. 

3. Leaders will be provided for clubs using club- 

study outlines. 

D. Conference service : 

1. Conferences will be organized for particular 

groups or persons, e. g., the secretaries of 
women's clubs, the secretaries of chambers of 
commerce, etc. 

2. The specific problems arising in the work of the 

particular group Avill be made the subject of 
the program. 

3. The meetings will not be given over to lectures 

though there may be occasional lectures actu- 
ally delivered. 

4. The papers to be discussed will be prepared in 

advance, printed and distributed at least a 
month before the meeting and made the basis 
of discussion at the meeting. 

5. After one of these conferences has been organ- 

ized, committees might be appointed to work 
on problems ad interim and these would be 
submitted in advance as under "4." 

6. Or a special subject or subjects might be decided 

on for these conferences and submitted to the 
extension division currently which would act 
as a clearing house of information and might 
tentatively outline a report, but this last fea- 
34 



ture had better be done by members of the 
group making the suggestion or operating in 
that field. 

E. Short courses : 

1. Short courses of a week will be held for special 

groups of persons, e, g., controller or other 
financial officers of cities, secretaries of cham- 
bers of commerce or boards of trade, etc. 

2. Short courses as above of two weeks duration. 

3. Short courses for correspondence students at end 

of work. 

4. Short courses for teachers during the shorter 

vacation periods. 

5. Summer sessions— length to be determined— for 

various classes as opportunities arise. 

6. Short courses or summer school to work in con- 

junction with a plan for training men now in 
the public service for greater efficiency and 
promotion. 



35 



PROMOTION DIVISION 

The plan up to this point has given attention solely to the 
services to be rendered by a university extension division. These 
services will have to be expressed in organization units. These 
will follow in its broad outlines the description of the services 
given and need not detain us now. The business side of the 
organization will also have to be taken care of and this also need 
not detain us now. 

But there is a further problem that does need explanation in 
this connection. Many social service institutions "vvith splendid 
facilities for doing things are working on a twenty-five or fifty 
per cent basis because of their failure to make known the things 
they were ready to do. The people who would have called on 
them did not know either of their existence or of their service. 
Carrying the university or anything else to the people is a diffi- 
cult thing — or an impossible thing — if the people are not in- 
formed as to the services the university extension division may 
render and how they may secure them. In short, a plan of edu- 
cational publicity, or promotion, if you will, is an integral part 
of the work of a social service institution like a university ex- 
tension division. 

The newspapers, the magazines, and all other forms of pub- 
licity must all be used in telling the public of the existence, the 
service and the willingness to serve of the university extension 
division. All the effective features of an advertising campaign 
should be used. 

Every agency working for the common good must be enlisted 
in the cause. Plans and schemes of cooperation must be worked 
out. The advice of these agencies must be sought not only after 
plans are made but while they are in process of making. It will 
be good for the plans and better for their successful execution. 

Probably the best method of carrying on this educational 
propaganda is a district organization. It is easily demonstrable 
from Wisconsin experience that without the district organiza- 
tion much of the work done would have been impossible. A re- 

36 



port has been prepared on this subject on the Wisconsin experi- 
ence. The opening statements of this report follow : 

"1. It is the only effective way to reach the people. A study of 
the statistics for one single district shows this conclusively. 
The 4th, or Superior District, has been taken as an exam- 
ple. It was organized July 15th, 1912. 

Students enrolled to July 15, 1912 (6 yrs.) 52 

Students enrolled since July 15, 1912 {2% yrs.)___ 1089 

Students, per year, without organization 6% 

Students, per year, with organization 378 

2. Field organization is especially important in developing the 
vocational work. Taking Superior District again. 
Vocational students to July 15, 1912, 11, or 2 per yr. 
Vocational students since July 15, 1912, 870, or 316 per yr. 
Vocational students to July 15, 1912, were 21 per cent of 

total. 
Vocational students since July 15, 1912, are 84 per cent of 

total. 
Numbers in vocational courses have increased 80 times. 
Numbers in other courses have increased 4 times. 

Similar statistics for Eau Claire District show 35 stu- 
dents in 7 years A\dthout organization, while 240 new stu- 
dents were added in first 8 months after reorganization." 

All publications and correspondence should express the spirit 
of the organization. All persons meeting the public in any way 
must be conscious that they are representatives of the depart- 
ment and express its fundamental spirit of courtesy, of coopera- 
tion, and of its willingness to serve. 

The work of this division may be outlined in more detail as 
follows : 

I. This division works in close cooperation with the planning 
division. 

II. Keeps in touch with all helpful agencies in the state : schools, 
clubs, etc. 

A. Keeps lists of such agencies with names of officers, 
purposes of organization, meetings, etc. 

37 



B. Keeps them informed as to developments and plans 

of university extension division. 

C. Suggests opportunities for helping university exten- 

sion division. 

III. Keeps district organization under close observation. 

A. Makes first recommendation as to number of dis- 

tricts, territory to be included, needs, etc. 

B. From current records of district work makes sug- 

gestions as to efficiency and proposes subdivision 
of districts, etc. 

C. Acts as clearing house for district organizations. 

D. Makes independent inquiry of district work. 

lY. In charge of all publicity work. 

A. Prepares bulletins describing university extension 

service. 

B. Writes newspaper notices or articles. 

C. Proposes and executes plans for using: 

1. Moving picture shows, 

2. House organs of business houses, 

3. Newspapers or magazines, 

4. School papers, or 

5. Any other publicity means. 

V. Supervision of all publications as to form. 
VI. Responsibility for handling public. 

A. Handles inquiries, 

B. Handles suggestions and complaints. 

C. Outlines follow up letters and methods. 

D. Trains those in the service in courteous efficient 

handling of the public. 



38 



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